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At the final concert of its twelfth season on May 28, the Brno Contemporary Orchestra (BCO) unveiled its plans for the upcoming year. The new season will be themed Auscultation—the medical practice of examination by listening. Under the veil of medical inspiration, the orchestra will immerse itself in the musical diagnostics of the heart, lungs, stomach, and voice, as well as the essence of listening itself. It seeks to answer whether medical diagnostics can be bridged with music and whether we truly know how to listen.
In the upcoming season, the BCO will present seven projects, primarily in unconventional spaces not originally intended for music. While the previous season focused on the objectification of subjective reading experiences, the new one leans towards the exactitude of medicine. "Auscultation is a term and method we borrowed from medical diagnostics. While strictly exact in that field, in the realm of art, 'examination by listening' and 'places of listening'—performed without stethoscopes—strike us as exceptionally poetic. More and more weight is being given to the art of listening; instead of experts, we seek 'enthusiastic novices' who wish to hear the new rather than confirm the old," explained Viktor Pantůček, the ensemble's dramaturg.
The season opens on September 18 at St. Anne's Chapel in Brno, near the transplant center. The program, aptly titled Cardio, features Rudolf Drozd’s biometric composition, Galina Ustvolskaya’s Fifth Symphony, Miloslav Kabeláč’s Fateful Dramas of Man, and Michael Gordon’s minimalist work Thou Shalt! / Thou Shalt Not!. The October Neuro program, a collaboration with the Exposition of New Music and the Brno Philharmonic, marks the 150th anniversary of Bedřich Smetana’s deafness, presenting his My Country in three different forms alongside his complete male choruses.
In November, the BCO will perform at the Orlovna on Mendel Square in a concert subtitled Pneumo, commemorating the forty children who drowned there during the war year of 1944. Featuring a world premiere for "long inhalation and exhalation" by Adrián Demoč and "divergent breathing" by Pavel Zlámal, the program is completed by works of Krzysztof Penderecki and Pierre Boulez. The featured soloist for this event will be clarinetist Marek Švejkar, conducted by Pavel Šnajdr. The December program will offer a "pre-Christmas party" with an American spirit at the Tuřany Sokolovna.
The year 2025 begins in the dining hall of the Masaryk Students' Home with the Gastro program, subtitled Dinner for Magdaléna Dobromila Rettigová. It features Ondřej Adámek’s Dinner, Luciano Berio’s transcriptions of folk songs and Beatles hits, and the world premiere of "appetizers" by Ian Mikyska. In March, the Audio program visits the newly reconstructed Ceremonial Hall at Brno’s Central Cemetery, featuring Peter Graham’s Book of Trembling, Petr Bakla’s piano concerto performed by Miroslav Beinhauer, and compositions by Jürg Frey.
The season concludes on May 28 at the Stiassni Villa with Fonio. This project captures the musical characteristics of five presidents over the last fifty years: "Normalization-era misophonia, nineties euphony, pragmatic cacophony, self-indulgent autophonia, and finally aphonia—a voice that is hardly heard." The program features works by Denisov, Wolfe, Zappa, Romitelli, Kagel, and others.
